Maze Runner Movies in Order: The Trilogy, the Books Behind It and Where to Watch

The Maze Runner film series is a closed trilogy: three movies from 20th Century Fox, all directed by Wes Ball and all starring Dylan O’Brien as Thomas. They tell one continuous story, so the order is simple. The more interesting questions are how the films line up with James Dashner’s novels, how long a full rewatch takes, and where you can actually watch them in the US right now.

Maze Runner movies in release order

Release dates are US theatrical dates from Rotten Tomatoes. Runtimes are the BBFC’s timed cinema versions, rounded to the nearest minute. They match the US runtimes shown on Apple TV (1 hr 53 min, 2 hr 11 min and 2 hr 22 min).

#	Film	US release	Runtime (min)	US rating	Book it adapts
1	The Maze Runner	Sep 19, 2014	113	PG-13	The Maze Runner (2009)
2	Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials	Sep 18, 2015	131	PG-13	The Scorch Trials (2010)
3	Maze Runner: The Death Cure	Jan 26, 2018	142	PG-13	The Death Cure (2011)

Total: about 386 minutes, or 6 hours and 26 minutes.

The first two films opened a year apart, each in mid-September. The finale took more than two years to follow. TheWrap notes that The Death Cure’s release was delayed by almost a year during production.

Is the release order the same as the story order?

Yes. There are no prequel films, spin-offs or flashback entries, so release order and chronological order are identical. Each film picks up where the last one stopped:

• The Maze Runner introduces Thomas, who arrives in the Glade with no memory and joins the Runners who map the shifting maze around it, as the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis describes.
• The Scorch Trials moves the survivors to a remote fortified outpost, where they uncover a WCKD plot and break out into the Scorch, a wasteland full of virus-infected Cranks. The Gladers look for a resistance group called the Right Hand, per Rotten Tomatoes.
• The Death Cure sends the remaining Gladers into the Last City, which WCKD controls, for a final rescue mission, according to its Rotten Tomatoes synopsis.

A small detail for book readers: the novels spell the organization WICKED, as Penguin Random House does in its series description, while the films use WCKD.

Why do some runtimes differ by a minute?

Stores and databases round differently. Google Play, for example, lists The Scorch Trials at 130 minutes and The Death Cure at 143. The BBFC records also show that 20th Century Fox cut or changed scenes in all three UK cinema versions to get a 12A certificate. Even so, the BBFC timings round to the same minute as the US listings on Apple TV, so the table above is a safe planning figure.

How long is a Maze Runner marathon?

At about 6 hours and 26 minutes of film, the whole trilogy fits into one long day. Add two 20-minute breaks and you are looking at roughly 7 hours from the first frame to the last credit.

Plan	Films	Screen time
One day	All three, back to back	About 6 hr 26 min
Night 1	The Maze Runner + The Scorch Trials	About 4 hr 4 min
Night 2	The Death Cure	About 2 hr 22 min

The two-night split puts the two shorter films together and gives the longest one its own evening. Night one also ends at the natural break between the Gladers’ escape into the wider world and their final mission.

There is no shortcut path here. Each film depends on the one before it, and none of them is a side story you can skip.

Maze Runner books vs. movies

James Dashner’s original series was published in hardcover by Delacorte Press. Penguin Random House numbers the five original books in publication order, with the two prequels counted as books four and five. A newer trilogy, the Maze Cutter series, followed from Akashic Media Enterprises: The Maze Cutter, set 73 years after The Death Cure, then The Godhead Complex and The Infinite Glade.

Book	First published	Where it sits in the story	Filmed?
The Maze Runner	Oct 6, 2009	Main trilogy, part 1	Yes: The Maze Runner (2014)
The Scorch Trials	Oct 12, 2010	Main trilogy, part 2	Yes: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
The Death Cure	Oct 11, 2011	Main trilogy, part 3	Yes: Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
The Kill Order	Aug 14, 2012	Prequel, set before WICKED and the Glade existed	No
The Fever Code	Sep 27, 2016	Prequel, shows how the maze was built	No
The Maze Cutter	2022	Maze Cutter series, book 1, 73 years after The Death Cure	No
The Godhead Complex	Nov 14, 2023	Maze Cutter series, book 2	No
The Infinite Glade	Sep 9, 2025	Maze Cutter series, book 3	No

Publication dates for the first five books come from the Delacorte Press hardcover listings on Penguin Random House. The Maze Cutter’s 73-year time jump and the Maze Cutter publication details come from Kirkus Reviews’ pages for The Maze Cutter, The Godhead Complex and The Infinite Glade. Sources give different 2022 dates for The Maze Cutter (Kirkus lists Oct. 4, and the NetGalley audiobook listing shows Nov. 1), so the table gives the year only. Dashner’s own book page lists The Maze Runner Series and The Maze Cutter Series as separate series.

The film trilogy maps one book to one movie, and the final book was not split into two films. T.S. Nowlin is a credited screenwriter on all three movies, and the first film also credits Noah Oppenheim and Grant Pierce Myers, per Rotten Tomatoes.

Which Maze Runner books were never made into movies?

Five: The Kill Order, The Fever Code, The Maze Cutter, The Godhead Complex and The Infinite Glade. TheWrap noted in 2024 that the first four had not been adapted for the screen, and The Infinite Glade only came out in 2025. We found no announced adaptation of any of them.

The prequels cover ground the films only hint at:

• The Kill Order follows two survivors, Mark and Trina, after sun flares kill most of the world’s population and a virus that drives people to murderous rage begins to spread. Its publisher’s description places it before WICKED was formed and before Thomas ever entered the maze.
• The Fever Code is the story of how Thomas and WICKED built the maze, and of how WICKED found Thomas, per Penguin Random House.

What order should you read the Maze Runner books in?

For a first read, go in publication order: the trilogy, then The Kill Order, then The Fever Code. The Fever Code is written to answer questions the trilogy raises, and its reveals work best once you know the ending.

If you want the story in sequence, read The Kill Order, The Fever Code, The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure, then move on to the newer books, starting with The Maze Cutter.

Should you read the books or watch the movies first?

Either works, since each film adapts one book of the trilogy in the same order. Watching the movies first is the lighter commitment, at about six and a half hours. Reading first means you will notice where the screen versions condense or change events, which is normal for adaptations of long novels. If you plan to read the prequels, finish the trilogy in whichever form first, because both prequels assume you already know how the story ends.

Where to watch the Maze Runner movies

All three films were released by 20th Century Fox, now 20th Century Studios under Disney. Here is what we could confirm on the US stores’ own title pages as of October 30, 2026.

Film	Google Play (US)	Apple TV store (US)	Subscription streaming (US)
The Maze Runner (2014)	Rent $3.99 / Buy $14.99 (HD)	Listed, no price on the web page (title page); part of the Maze Runner 3-Film Collection and Double Feature bundles	Not confirmed on an official service page
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)	Listed, but no rent or buy offer shown	Listed, no price on the web page (title page); part of the 3-Film Collection and Double Feature bundles	Not confirmed on an official service page
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)	Rent $3.99 / Buy $14.99 (4K)	Listed, no price on the web page (title page); part of the 3-Film Collection bundle	Not confirmed on an official service page

Last checked: October 30, 2026

Prices are the US Google Play prices shown on each film’s page that day. Apple TV’s public web pages list the films and bundles but do not display prices, so check the Apple TV app for current rent and buy options.

Is Maze Runner on Disney+, Hulu or Netflix?

We could not confirm a US subscription home for any of the three films on the services’ own pages on October 30, 2026, so we are not listing one. Because Disney owns the films, Disney+ and Hulu are the first places to search. Netflix is worth checking too. Streaming deals for older studio movies change often, sometimes month to month, so search each app directly before you plan a marathon.

Can you buy the whole trilogy at once?

Apple TV lists a Maze Runner 3-Film Collection bundle on each film’s US page, and the first two films also appear in a Maze Runner Double Feature. The web pages did not show bundle prices on October 30, 2026, so confirm the price and what is included in the Apple TV app before buying.

Is there a new Maze Runner movie?

A new film has been reported in development, but it has no release date. On May 3, 2024, The Hollywood Reporter reported that 20th Century Studios was rebooting the franchise and was in talks with Jack Paglen, the writer of Transcendence, to write the script.

According to that report, the project is neither a remake nor a direct sequel. The goal is a continuation of the story that also returns to what made the first film work. THR compared the approach to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which Wes Ball directed and which continued that series with new characters generations later.

Project	Status as of October 30, 2026	Key names
New Maze Runner film (untitled)	In development; no title, cast, director or release date announced	Jack Paglen (writer, in talks as of May 2024); Wes Ball (producer); Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Lee Stollman, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen (producers)

The producers named by THR are the same team behind the original trilogy, from Gotham Group and Temple Hill. TheWrap added that when Disney acquired Fox in 2019, it announced plans for more installments of several Fox franchises, including The Maze Runner, Avatar and Alien. We will add the new film to the tables above once 20th Century Studios gives it a release date.

More watch-order guides

If you want another long-running franchise to plan around, try our Avatar movies in order or the Spider-Man movies in order, which untangles three separate film series. For more science fiction, see where to watch the Alien movies. And if you are curious which actors share your birthday, our Famous Birthdays Finder covers every day of the year.